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Harbor freight towable backhoe review.

Ghostrider 67

Jack Stand Racer #6..and proud of it!
FBBO Gold Member
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Location
Salisbury, Vermont
Purchased new, $3600.75. Free shipping. Arrived in 6 days via 48 foot tractor trailer. All in one crate, 1800 lbs. Used a backhoe, 4WD w/ 6 feet wide bucket. Wrapped chain around crate and pinioned it against the bucket. Easy peasy. Well crated and packed in. No damage.
Some assembly required.
lol. The main boom, bucket and bucket boom, hydraulic controls with attached hoses, outriggers, wheels and axles, seat are all packaged/ wrapped separately. All the attaching hardware and locking pins are boxed and well labeled. Each hose is numbered on either end and has plastic caps in each end as the system was filled and tested before shipment. Needed to fill engine oil, one quart 10w30, and the hydraulic reservoir. Made all connections of booms and rams, hoses and outriggers/wheels. Started and broke in engine, moved/ cycled all controls to full extension and back to bleed the system.
The only thing i'm disappointed in is the need to fool around with moving the wheels and outriggers every time you want to tow the unit. But, i cant see any way around it or think of a better design. Engine is a Predator 9 HP. It had plenty of power for what I needed to use it for.
Tow hitch takes a 1 7/8" ball but the directions call for a 2" ball. lol.
Towed it with my Ram 1500. No issues.
Once it's nearby where the work is to be done then you need to swap ends with the wheels and outriggers.
The bucket/boom can be used to hoist it around to accomplish this as well as strategically placing two hunks of 4x4 under the frame as a pivot point.
Once configured correctly, all lock pins removed and safeties removed you can reach out with boom and bucket and lift up the unit to crab walk it to where your work site position is.
I used it today to clean out the sheep stall, 12"x12" stall. What I needed to do was to scrape up the bedding/manure which was compressed over the winter to about 8" deep. It's too much labor for me to try to pitchfork all of that heavy wet crap up and away from the gravel floor.
The idea was to use the bucket to reach out and sink the three teeth into the material and rotate the bucket back towards me while also controlling depth and length of reach.
It took me a minute to figure out which handles to slide in which direction and at what pressure to make that three dimensional movement. Once I got a feel for it things went smoothly. The barn is not big enough to swing the boom over and fill my trailer too. The unit is long and I didn't have enough room to back away far enough to do so. I had to settle for breaking it all up and loosening it from the gravel floor, which is 2/3 rds of the battle.
From there i moved the unit back outdoors and backed my small trailer into the bay next to that one being cleaned. Pitchforked it all into the trailer in 7 loads.
The entire job took around 2 1/2 hours.
It's a good result for me and it did what I bought it for flawlessly.
I'm a happy camper so far!
Here's some pics. It was easy to assemble by myself.

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Looks good....do you think that could dig a septic system?
 
Did you check the grease in the wheel bearings?
 
There are/will be those that hate because it's H.F, I say if it works good, use it! If it's use will defray the cost of having to pay for a few contractor jobs, then it's paid for itself a few times over! Then it's like a sore dick, you just can't beat it!:thumbsup:
 
Looks very good.
On the ball hitch...I guess 1-7/8" and 2" are used for the same loads. U haul car transporters will accept either.
 
To bad you can't figure out how to hook it up to a 4 wheeler to move it around.
 
Oh Hunt2elk . . . Don't get me started on yet another "project" . . . what a great idea ! ! !
Yeah, you better button up that new garage first before starting on anything else.
 
Can you get replacement parts for it. Several years ago my local HF store had a sale on 4500 watt generators. I bought one. Ran great for two years. Warranty went out. I used it a lot & one day I went to start it. Pull rope came out & wouldn’t recoil. Took the cover off to get to the pulley/recoil mechanism & the plastic recoil housing was busted. No way to fix it. Called the replacement parts # on my owners manual. Gave them the part # to order & I was told no replacement parts avaliable. I told the lady to place the order anyway. She did. About a month later I got a e-mail that that model generator was discontinued & no repair parts avaliable. So I had to wrap the pull rope around the plastic pulley each time I wanted to start it. I should have bought the three year warranty I guess. I’m certain parts are available just lousy customer service.
 
Looks good....do you think that could dig a septic system?
It advertises a 7' deep digging ability and has a deep and shallow first ram pin settings that change the attack angle. So, yeah, it might not get the entire job done, depending on how deep you need to go, but 90 % for sure.
It would also depend on soil composition as well. This thing isn't heavy duty commercial grade equipment. It's more like homeowner/ hobby farm use.
 
To bad you can't figure out how to hook it up to a 4 wheeler to move it around.
I'm going to fabricate a gooseneck hitch with a hole in the end of a tongue to pin it to the rear of my JD lawn tractor. I think it will pull it.
 
Can you get replacement parts for it. Several years ago my local HF store had a sale on 4500 watt generators. I bought one. Ran great for two years. Warranty went out. I used it a lot & one day I went to start it. Pull rope came out & wouldn’t recoil. Took the cover off to get to the pulley/recoil mechanism & the plastic recoil housing was busted. No way to fix it. Called the replacement parts # on my owners manual. Gave them the part # to order & I was told no replacement parts avaliable. I told the lady to place the order anyway. She did. About a month later I got a e-mail that that model generator was discontinued & no repair parts avaliable. So I had to wrap the pull rope around the plastic pulley each time I wanted to start it. I should have bought the three year warranty I guess. I’m certain parts are available just lousy customer service.
Don't know yet. But should be, plus, i'm a mechanical genius, so there is that...
 
I don't have plans to wear this machine out, or abuse it daily. I needed it twice a year to clean up in the spring and fall. I might find a few other small jobs to use it for too. I expect it will be sitting much of the time. It's just that I cant see spending $20,000 plus on a tractor to use twice a year. I also don't want to have to keep asking my neighbors to help, they have working farms to run and don't have time to fiddle around with my small time needs. Don't want to go to those wells too often. Plus, I like to stomp my own snakes....
 
I think I'd rig a couple of tires/axles up front that could replace the outriggers and then make it like a small trailer/wagon.
 
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